The Eyes that see Darkness Clearly
by YAXON
Summary: Madara dwells on Izuna's... er... HIS eyes. For that's what they are now, you see. They're HIS Eternal Mangekyo. And eventually HIS Rinnegan. And Madara feels not an ounce of remorse for claiming his brother's eyes as his own... Companion/Parallel fic to Bright Eyes by Rikkudo. Received permission. Crackfic.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: They're MY Eyes Now**

Well, Izuna passed away just a few minutes ago… It's all that bastard Tobirama's fault. He used that damn Hiraishin to cut through Izuna like butter.

He will pay. I mean Tobirama, of course. Izuna… Izuna, being the saint he is, bestowed on me his eyes on his deathbed. I don't care what the other clan members say – he _gave them to me_ , damn it. I did not _steal_ them. I could never do such a thing to my only remaining brother.

Izuna's eyes… even with the bandages on, I can still feel the sheer _power_ radiating off these glorious gifts that Izuna gave to me. These will help me immensely on my quest for vengeance. … And of course I'll protect the Clan, as Izuna begged me to… Dear, sweet Izuna… You shall be avenged. Not a single one of those Senju bastards will escape my swift justice. You deserved a long, _happy_ life… Not an unmercifully short one.

Hmm? You're wondering why I never gave _my_ eyes to Izuna in exchange for his? He was on his _deathbed_. What use would he have for them in the afterlife? Of course he will wake up in the Pure World with perfect eyes that will never, ever lose their light, regardless of the fact that he died with empty eye sockets. Kami favors the Uchiha – that's why I will personally be sending all the Senju off to Hell, where they belong.

Izuna's eyes are my eyes now. _Mine_. Kami this feeling of power is magnificent… With these babies, it's no wonder that my brother slayed hundreds of Senju… Perhaps that is a _slight_ exaggeration, but as my brother he slayed many a Senju regardless.

I shall never, _ever_ trust a Senju again. _Ever_. Bastards need to pay for taking Izuna away from me!

* * *

… Fuck. Izuna's going to kill me.

Okay, okay, so _maybe_ I was a tad hasty in swearing off of Senju… Hashirama showed me his guts, so how could I just let him die? He's the only vestige left of my childhood… I lost Izuna already; I _refuse_ to lose Hashirama, too. He's like the brother I never had.

But Izuna's _still_ going to kill me. I can see it now – a special corner of Hell reserved for me because I made peace with Izuna's murderers. But. But, but, but! Hashirama and I still accomplished what we set out to do as children. We established a village where future children won't have to grow up in the wild for the sole purpose of waging an endless war. Maybe Izuna will be merciful in punishing me?

Nooo, I'm not even kidding. Izuna. Is going. To _kill_ me!

Regardless, I stand by my decision to help found the Village Hidden in the Leaves… Like it? I came up with the name. Yup. Hashirama gave me the rights and everything…

I'm still gonna find a way to assassinate Tobirama without it tracing back to me… I owe Izuna that much.

Oh, look… Hashirama wants to nominate me as the Village Leader – the Hokage he calls it… Stupidest name ever. Why should the Village Leader be called 'the Fire Shadow'? When I'm sworn in, I'm gonna change the name up a little… It's gotta be something epic…

* * *

Damn Tobirama. Damn him to Hell. And damn Hashirama for going along with Izuna's murderer. He should've just put his damn foot down and made me the leader; I mean, what is this? A fucking democracy? We're a _militaristic institution_. We don't have to give a shit about what the damn civilians think…

But no. Hashirama virtuously 'believes' in the people… This will set a horrible precedent… I know it… I'd better warn the Clan…

* * *

Fuck the Uchiha Clan. Fuck the Hidden Leaf Village. I'm outta here!

Only joking. I'm totally gonna raze this shithole to the ground with my Eternal Mangekyo. They'll see… They'll all see… Especially Tobirama.

He will be my first victim. Then Hashirama for following him like a brainless sheep… Then the Clan for turning their backs on me…

Izuna's – no… _my_ eyes, _my_ Eternal Mangekyo will end them all. For these eyes see darkness clearly… That is all there is in this accursed world, and I have a plan to do away with this corrupt system. It's totally gonna work…

And I shall dance on their graves… For Izuna!

 **Author's Note:**

 **So… That happened. Well, it got started, anyway. This is a parallel fic to Duesal Bladesinger/Rikkudo's fic called Bright Eyes, where Izuna laments over not having eyes in the afterlife. Got permission from him and everything. :D**

 **I don't plan for this to be a very long project. Very short chapters, and I'll only be tracing the journey that Izuna's eyes take, but only from Madara's point of view. How will that cover Nagato and Obito receiving his eyes? Well… You'll see. I have vague plans for that.**

 **The point is… They're Madara's eyes now. Or so he says. Izuna begs to differ, of course. XD**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: A Prolonged Life**

So… I doubt Izuna will ever truly appreciate the lengths I have gone for him. Sometimes _I_ still boggle at how far I've managed to come.

Izuna would be very disappointed to hear that Operation Wipe the Hidden Leaf Off the Map failed spectacularly. Believe me, I tried more than once. Hashirama got in my way… Every. Time.

All I want is Tobirama dead at my feet, an unrecognizable husk of a former man. Is that too much to ask?

But no. No, the Hidden Leaf remains standing, and Izuna's murderer continues to breathe… I have failed you, Izuna.

But don't go thinking I've just been wallowing here in self-pity. See, I found the Nine-Tails while wandering the Elemental Nations. Totally just chanced upon it. Of course I used Izuna's former eyes to force the creature to do my bidding – then I cloaked it in my sublime Perfect Susano'o. It will be the infallible instrument of the Hidden Leaf's destruction.

Hashirama took the fox away from me, of course. Bastard just doesn't understand the concept of sharing. What's mine is _not_ yours, Hashirama; what's yours is, well… I might or might not use it to obliterate the Hidden Leaf. Depends on how I'm feeling at the time, really.

Regardless, I was beaten once again. And the nine-tailed fox was sealed away in Hashirama's Uzumaki wife, Mito. Uzumaki are not to be trifled with, so I kept my distance for a while; but I could not let Izuna's death go unavenged. His blood was still crying out for justice, damn it!

At any rate. In my most recent battle with Hashirama, I bit off a chunk of his arm… That's something, right, Izuna? It wasn't Tobirama's arm, but I'm pretty sure you would still feel proud of the accomplishment. His power is now mine, Izuna; I'm one step closer to ending this corrupt system for good!

I did end up faking my own death. I had no choice; I needed time to recover. The last place I fought Hashirama at is now called the Valley of the End… It's an ode to you, my fallen brother. You should be so proud your former eyes are capable of so much _destruction_. Do you see what your former eyes have wrought? Of course you do. You continue to see the world through my eyes.

Be strong, Izuna. It will be over soon.

* * *

Well, I'm still in this Hell of a reality. And I'm _old_. So old. I never did seem to catch a second wind after my final battle with Hashirama at the Valley of the End… My injuries were too grave, even with Hashirama's flesh implanted into me.

Foolish tablet. It lied about me obtaining greater power by combining Uchiha and Senju powers. I suppose that's what I get from a worthless clan like the Senju, though; their DNA is shit.

Perhaps that's not totally accurate. It took _decades_ for anything to truly surface, but it did, eventually, surface. I'm looking at the end results of my labor now… The Rinnegan. Legendary eyes that had been nothing but a fairytale until I had actually seen it. I mean, anyone could have written on a tablet and claimed they were the Sage of Six Paths… Parts of the tablet were only revealed after attaining a certain level of Sharingan? The person that wrote it was likely a powerful Uchiha ancestor.

But now I know the truth. The Sage of Six Paths did exist. I'm the second person in history to wield the most amazing pair of eyes ever. Izuna… Your former eyes belong to a god now. A vengeful god. For with them, I shall rain fire and brimstone on this hopeless world… It's really too bad that Tobirama went and got himself killed by the Kinkaku Squad, because he wouldn't have stood a chance against me with _these_ eyes. So weak, Tobirama. You were a pathetic Hokage anyway…

The only problem is that I'm. so. old. now. _Why_ did these eyes take so long to kick in? Damn Senju genetics… Oh well. Better late than never.

Now where to begin…


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Passing the Torch**

Curse these old, brittle bones. Traversing the world is not as easy as it once was.

I suppose I'm getting a little ahead of myself, though. The first thing I did after obtaining the Rinnegan was to summon the Gedo Statue, the corpse of the Ten-Tailed Eldritch Abomination that was sealed away in the moon for centuries. Though that was quite the feat, it was only the first step to reviving the Ten-Tails. That was taxing enough on this bag of bones of a body. I would hate to have to collect all the Tailed Beasts myself, let alone jam all of them down the throat of the Gedo Statue… That would take entirely too long. And I'm certainly not getting any younger.

So. I will be accomplishing the rest of my multi-stage plan through the act of delegation. As things currently stand, there are no rogue Uchiha other than my glorious self. That's unfortunate, because an Uchiha would be the ideal candidate for the second transplant of Izuna's… _my_ eyes.

Regardless, my tireless research that lasted just a little over a week managed to reveal something extraordinary. I would never, ever consider using a Senju, which are going the way of the dinosaur much to my gleeful pleasure, but their allies, the Uzumaki, are fair game.

Oh? You don't think those red-headed freaks are worthy of wielding the eyes of a god? Well, you'd be right. Those plebeians could never hope to use these eyes to their fullest extent, but I only really need one to resurrect me eventually, when all the hard work has been accomplished. I would normally never trust one of Mito's family and Clan, but I don't have a choice in the matter. It's not as if I'm walking right into the heart of Whirlpool to pluck one of their own right from under their noses; I'm desperate to keep Izuna's former eyes safe, but I'm not suicidal. I managed to locate a baby of Uzumaki descent in the middle of Rain Country… That's literally all it does in that country. Every. Single. Day.

What's that? You don't think it's fair for me to piggyback off of the hard work of other people? Tough. If life were fair, Izuna would be alive and well, Tobirama would be dead, I would be the Hokage, and Izuna would be my successor. As it stands, I'm fighting an uphill battle by kicking life in the balls to make sure it stays down. _I_ am the god here; _I_ decide how things will go.

So I gifted the Uzumaki brat with the eyes of a god. I have no regrets there. His living conditions are perfect; he will grow up to see the hopelessness of reality, and will gladly resurrect me when my followers get in touch with him. That's right; I managed to manufacture an army of Hashirama by implanting some of his Senju DNA into the base of the Gedo Statue. They lack his battle prowess, but at least _they_ won't side an evil-brother-killing bastard! I can afford to be petty; I'm Madara Uchiha, bitch.

Officially, I also procured a random Sharingan that was just lying around… Unofficially, I procured it after cornering one of my former clansmen. The bastard destroyed the other before I could get to it… Foolish mortal.

But what if things don't go my way after I pass onto the Pure World? What if life pushes back? Well, I've already got that covered. I… procured… an Uchiha child that was deemed worthless by the same backstabbing bastards that turned their backs on me, in the middle of one of those World War things, and I have molded him into my liking after applying a Curse Seal to his heart and killing what was apparently the love of his life or whatever.

Still no regrets.

One of my final acts was leaving behind a physical representation of my Will. He will ensure things go my way without fail. I have complete faith in him; he even sounds like that voice that's been whispering in the back of my head for ages now, telling me what to do, how the Rinnegan works, etc., etc.

Totally not suspicious at all. He's _my_ Will, so they were all _my_ ideas and genius.

With that, I severed myself from the Statue that kept me alive for so many years. I should have rejoined Izuna ages ago, but there was work to be done. There is still much work to be done, but now it is out of my hands.

… Well, well. Kami favors me; I died with _one_ eye and woke up in the Pure World with _two_. I told you Kami favored the Uchiha! … Wait a second. Is that… Izuna? But… Where are his eyes?

Well shit. It appears I was wrong about his sight being restored in death… I think… I think I will be steering clear of Izuna until I'm resurrected. Izuna can certainly be bitter and hold a grudge; I know that all too well…


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: And now for the Final Act**

Did you know time passes by so much quicker in the Pure World? I couldn't have been there for more than a day or two before I was back among the living in some cramped space… like someone put me in a box… coffin? Meh. Same difference.

The point is: Obito did his job and groomed Nagato perfectly. I'm _back_ , bitches!

… Wait, hold on… Apparently I'm only a zombie at this point. Damn Tobirama… But then again, it _is_ a fairly useful technique. Perfect for a god such as myself. A body that will never age or be permanently injured, and _unlimited_ Chakra. Yes, with a body like this I can accomplish _anything_! Project Tsukuyomi is back on track!

After reestablishing my mental connection with Black Zetsu, I got a status report on our progress. All things considered, we're not so bad off. Seven of the Tailed Beasts have been captured and secured; there's just the matter of the Eight- and Nine-Tails left. The Rinnegan is still in our possession, but damn if it wasn't a close call on Obito's part…

 _Apparently_ , our little pet Uzumaki developed splendidly in my absence and levelled the Hidden Leaf in an attempt to capture the Nine-Tails. The Jinchuriki brat is ironically an Uzumaki like Mito was, but that's a minor detail. The bad news is that Nagato _lost_ and revived the villagers instead of me. How selfish can you get? The little punk. I'm glad he's dead.

But Obito did me proud and did not let this injustice stand. He stormed the Hidden Rain Village for Nagato's corpse so that my eyes would not fall into enemy hands. Obito became the fourth person to wield my brother's eyes… Well, that's not technically accurate. I mean, he's only making use of one Rinnegan for whatever reason; Black Zetsu assures me that one of the White Zetsu is on the hunt for the other one.

Of course, the brat only managed to get the Rinnegan _after_ declaring War on the Great Nations because they wouldn't fork over the Eight- and Nine-Tails. Did the twit have no one else to rely on the capture of those Jinchuriki? Why didn't he just keep them in his Kamui dimension until it was time for the extraction of those Tailed Beasts?

Whatever. The point is, he's waging a pointless war that's wasting resources… _my_ resources. He can manipulate nerdy necromancers all he wants, but when he starts wasting those White Zetsu… _my_ creations… That's when I get irritated.

I don't care if more Hashirama DNA was added to their genetic makeup. White Zetsus are _not_ combat fighters. On top of that, it takes Tailed Beast Chakra to pump those things out in mass quantities, and the Beasts are _my_ pets…

But I digress. Black Zetsu informed me of all this as I stretched my legs and slaughtered hundreds of these Shinobi Alliance losers. The Uzumaki Jinchuriki's Shadow Clone is proving to be tenacious, but Shadow Clones can only spam so much Chakra before…

Oh, would you look at that. He repelled Deep Forest Emergence with droves of Shadow Clones using things that look like wannabe Tailed Beast Bombs… Probably relied on the Nine-Tails' power. Feh.

And did I mention I brought down _two_ giant meteors down on everyone? Izuna, you _must_ be proud of me now. Your former eyes are _magnificent_.

* * *

After playing around with the five Kage for a while, I broke the contract seal of the Impure World Resurrection technique because the Summoner was an idiot and got himself captured. Or something. Not like I care; I'm in no danger of being sent to the Pure World now. There's not a man alive that can seal me away quickly enough…

So I went and rejoined my imperfect living avatar. Which is just unacceptable in my humble opinion, because I'm the epitome of perfection, but I digress. Obito must have felt inadequate and felt the need to pass on his imperfectionism – don't lecture me, that is now a word – to our pet, the Ten-Tails. The idiot couldn't capture the Eight- and Nine-Tails, so he got impatient and initiated the Ten-Tails' revival early.

Foolish mortal.

Still, we were at the penultimate stage. All that remained was for Obito to resurrect me and fork over my Rinnegan. But the fool mouthed off and put himself on my shit list. Which is very short nowadays, on account of there being very few Senju _and_ Uchiha left in existence. Oh, I forgot to tell you that bit, too; Obito _did_ do another good deed and wiped out my backstabbing clan. Despite his imperfectionism, Obito has managed to do _some_ things right.

… Though I will have to explain to Izuna exactly why they had to die. I have so much to tell him…

At any rate, the insubordinate little shit went and became the Ten-Tails' Jinchuriki instead of resurrecting me. After that point I just decided to hang back and play around with Hashirama, who had also been brought back by the Impure World Resurrection. I really enjoy this, because now Hashirama and I don't have to hold anything back; the limitations of mortal bodies no longer plague us.

Obito eventually weakened, as per my projections and expectations. I knew his imperfectionism would be his downfall…

* * *

 _Now_ the fun can begin! Black Zetsu and I forced Obito to resurrect me, which was very easy in Obito's weakened state. Empty eye sockets are overrated, but I have to live with it until White Zetsu or Black Zetsu gets me one of my Rinnegan… Oh well. Sage Jutsu will have to suffice for now.

Did I ever tell you that being knocked around like a fucking pinball isn't fun? No? Well, that's what the Tailed Beasts used me for as I decided to play for time. I can take anything you throw at me, my pets… Your time is nigh; enjoy your 'superiority' while you still can.

Nope. I will not be sealed away, Kazekage. That's right, I bend reality to my whims and use Susano'o without a pair of Mangekyo in my eye sockets. Bow down, bitches!

Oh. White Zetsu finally showed up… _After_ I lost my fucking right arm… Have you been taking lessons from Obito, Zetsu? … Whatever. I'll just take your arm as compensation.

Aaand I can see! … Is that blood? _My_ blood? _Finally_! I can truly relish in the thrill of battle in its entirety… First thing's first, I need the Gedo Statue… C'mere you little…

There we go. Someone ripped off one of its arms, but it's really not an impediment. I've got the pen prepared, now it's time to herd in all my pets... Yes, I 'took longer than a minute,' don't patronize me. Obito took months – _years_ – to gather seven Tailed Beasts. I got eight and a half crammed down the Gedo Statue's throat in just a few minutes.

Just another item to add to his long list of imperfections. Fool.

The Kazekage took the former Uzumaki Jinchuriki away to likely treat him before he dies… There really is no hope for him. Black Zetsu will steal the other half of the Nine-Tails and get it to me soon enough. But before that… you and me have a gripe, Tobirama…

The bastard's a zombie now, but I can immobilize him like I immobilized Hashirama. Easy. Just about five more Six Paths rods burrowed deeply into his head, and my bloodlust is satiated… for now. I can afford to be petty. The bastard killed Izuna. He needs to pay.

Anyways, once the Ten-Tails was re-resurrected, I sealed it into my body and became its Jinchuriki. The fact that I'm its _third_ Jinchuriki chafes a little, but I'll get over it… as soon as Obito is slaughtered mercilessly.

I'm sure you can feel this power flowing through me, Izuna; one of your former eyes has returned to its master, and I'm on my way to retrieve the other. I will reclaim it and bring about a perfect world. Just you watch.

… After a significant delay, in which the other half of the Nine-Tails was given to that Uzumaki brat, some Taijutsu user nearly offed me, and I nearly lost Izuna's other former eye… I can now initiate the Infinite Tsukuyomi. I levitated high above the earth and ripped off that horn thing on my forehead, revealing a third eye to the world and the moon.

That's right. I, Madara Uchiha, have _three_ Rinnegan! Oh yeah!

The ultimate Genjutsu was activated, and the people of the world were dragged into cocoons of wood. There were some slight… annoyances left for me to wipe out, but I had _won_. As I gloated and prepared to end the nuisances, my Will stabbed me in the back and claimed that it was not in fact _my_ Will but some bitch named Kaguya's Will. I knew she was the progenitor of all Chakra-fueled humans, but the sheer audacity of what Black Zetsu was saying _infuriated_ me…

 _I_ was a pawn? No. I could not accept that. I would not accept that. Still… Despite my firm stance, Black Zetsu connected me with the Divine Deep Forest Emergence and promptly began to force all of that Chakra into me… While the overwhelming feeling of power was nice, it made me feel… bloated.

Soon Black Zetsu covered every inch of my bloated body, and I knew no more…

* * *

After that demon rabbit goddess had her comeuppance, I was left with nothing. Not even the Gedo Statue remained. I felt so hollow and drained… Not even Izuna's eyes could bring me comfort; I knew I was going to die for real this time, and it pissed me off… big time…

I had _failed_. And now I would have to face Izuna in the Pure World. This was not going to be fun.

* * *

Just like before, Madara entered the Pure World with Izuna's eyes. Izuna was still eye-less, though oddly enough his back was turned as Madara approached his brother.

"I'm sorry, Izuna… I failed to properly avenge your death. I failed to change the world." I then told him everything, explained what an amazing journey his eyes have had… How they had been in a total of four pairs of different eye sockets, and how they had almost changed the world for the better.

I began to feel a little worried as I saw Izuna's shoulder's twitch a little at the end of my tale. Was he crying? … No. He was _giggling_. And wasn't that just disturbing.

"I've been waiting for you, brother…" Izuna chortled as he turned to face Madara. Even with the empty eye sockets, Izuna still managed to pull off a deranged, intimidating stare.

Madara knew right then that he was screwed. In one lunge, Izuna was on him and ripping Madara's Rinnegan out of their sockets. How the hell he did this in the Pure World remains a mystery; but the point is, he _succeeded_.

"Nooooooo!" Madara shrieked as he was left eye-less. He clawed at his own face in a futile attempt to locate his eyes.

"They were never _your_ eyes, brother," Izuna told him off and flipped the bird. Then he stormed off without another word.

Madara certainly didn't believe in it, but… Karma's a bitch.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Well, that's over and done with, surprisingly enough… I really liked this internal monologue style of storytelling. Up until the end, of course, but I wanted a conclusion, so I added in one… Now go read** _ **Bright Eyes**_ **by Rikkudo. I can practically guarantee you'll like it. :D**


End file.
